Joint fundraisers ballooning after McCutcheon decision

Seven months after the Supreme Court struck down a provision of campaign finance law that limited the total amount that individuals could contribute to campaigns, parties and political action committees, big donors have a host of new options to more conveniently spread their political influence around. There are 213 new joint fundraising committees this year, a type of committee that allows contributors to write a single big check to be split among multiple candidates. Before the McCutcheon decision, the maximum number of recipients that could be included in a joint fundraiser stood at seven. Its beneficiaries can include campaigns, parties and leadership PACs. Since April 2, when the case was decided, 11 new PACs were formed with more than seven beneficiaries, a Sunlight analysis found. Two of these new "super joints" include more than 20 recipient committees.